Davao Region manufacturing industry growing

Subscribe Now June 16, 2017 at 12:59pm

THE manufacturing industry in Davao Region is growing and developing within the region despite having an agricultural base, an official of the Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc. (DCCCII) said.

According DCCCII trustee Arturo Milan, with the manufacturing industry composing only of about one percent of the total customer base of the power distributor, it consumes about 60 percent of total electricity kilowatt hours.

Milan said this is proof of the continuing growth of the industry. The residential component makes up 60 percent of total customer base but only consumes about 30 percent of the total electricity consumption.

“There is a lot of manufacturing now coming to Davao. Whatever set back that we have experienced because of, probably, Martial Law, this is very temporary. Investments are not short-term. We don’t make investment decisions just because martial law is declared now. They look at the opportunity at a longer timeframe if the potential is good. We all know that potential for business growth is good in Davao City,” Milan said.
When asked whether the current power supply in Mindanao can accommodate the growing manufacturing industry in the region, Milan said there is a current electricity surplus of 600 megawatts (MW) and it is expected to double up to 1,200 MW to 1,500 MW by the middle of next year. He further added that the wholesale electricity spot market (WESM) should really be implemented in Mindanao given the excess supply the island has.

As manufacturing and construction being done almost everywhere in the city, Milan said the industry is experiencing shortage of skilled construction workers.

“We have a lot of talents available. But we are running out of skilled workers in the construction because if you notice, there’s really a lot of construction now in Davao particularly in Davao City. If you notice there are some subdivisions in the city with signages at the entrance looking for masons, carpenters, and electricians because there’s really a shortage of skilled manpower in the construction industry,” Milan said.

According to him, as more construction projects are mushrooming in the city and a lot of engineers are still looking for jobs abroad, it would be sure that shortage of construction engineers will be experienced sooner.